Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER JANUARY 2019 26 INSIGHT MESSAGE RECEIVED, LOUD AND CLEAR GRANDE PRAIRIE, MAN. — An unhappy employee took advantage of his employer's intercom system recently to announce his resigna- tion. After handing in his resignation letter at a Walmart in Grande Prairie, Man., Jackson Racicot used the intercom system to tell people "Nobody should work here, ever." He went on to complain about how he was treated on the job, including "the bullshit," "bogus writeups," and his assistant man- ager calling him "a waste of time." Racicot posted a video of his announcement on Facebook (which has now been seen 625,000 times) to raise awareness about how people are treated at giant corporations like Walmart, and so people would boycott the chain, according to the Toronto Star: "Don't be treating your employees as if you own them." HOT AND HEAVY AT THE FIRE HALL VERNON, B.C. — Two fire hall employees in Vernon, B.C., were caught red-handed a few months back when caught on video hav- ing sex — in the fire chief 's office. David Lind had installed a hidden camera there after finding his filing cabinet open one day. e randy couple was subsequently fired, but the union raised privacy concerns. Recently, an arbitrator ruled the City of Vernon could use the video footage as part of evidence to jus- tify its dismissal. But one arbitra- tion panel member, Lorney West, questioned the number of people who viewed or were told about the video: the deputy chief, HR direc- tor, manager of HR, manager of in- formation services, chief adminis- trative officer and legal counsel. "In my view, the employer has dem- onstrated at least at minimum, a disregard for the basic respect all employees deserve, regardless of circumstances," he said. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T 'REPLY ALL' UTAH — Instead of festive cheer, thousands of state employees in Utah suffered through a massive email screw-up before Christ- mas. e email started innocently enough, looking to discuss an up- coming potluck among Utah De- partment of Technology Services workers, according to Newsweek. However, the email mistakenly went out to more than 25,000 em- ployees — and people started us- ing "reply all" to respond. Workers soon took to social media to try to stop the email chain clogging inboxes, but it still escalated. "It's Replyall-gate 2018. Adventures in state government. #ReplyAll. Actually don't reply all," wrote Joe Dougherty, a public information officer at the Utah Division of Emergency Management. Even the governor weighed in: "is is real and it's an emergency... I fear this will never end," said Spencer Cox. HAIR-RAISING TEACHER VISALIA, CALIF. — Yet another teacher got into trouble recently, this time when she commanded a student to sit down so she could cut his hair — while singing the national anthem. Science teacher Margaret Gieszinger was caught on video chopping the locks, and when the student got up to leave, she called out "Next!" and motioned for another student to sit down. e teacher then ap- proached a female student and attempted to cut her hair, but the students ended up running out of the classroom. Gieszinger was lat- er arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment, according to the Visalia Times-Delta. One of her students later said the incident was out of character for the teach- er: "She is a loving and kind lady. She is usually all smiles and laughs. is is not the Miss G. we know and love." e school said mental- health counsellors would be avail- able for any troubled students. BLATANT RACISM TOLEDO, OHIO — Nine Afri- can-Americans who worked at a General Motors plant in Ohio have filed a lawsuit accusing the automaker of ignoring racially charged incidents, according to the Detroit Free Press. e com- plaint alleges five nooses were hung from a ceiling at a plant in Toledo in early 2017, along with images of swastikas, stick fig- ures with nooses around their necks and "whites only" signs being painted on walls. Worker Mark Edward said he was really startled: "I couldn't understand who in my work area disliked me that much or had that much ha- tred to hang a noose by my job." e lawsuit — which is seeking monetary compensation for lost wages and mental anguish, along with having the guilty workers fired — claims GM did nothing to address the culture of discrimina- tion and failed to protect workers. But the company says workers underwent anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training, and it is "committed to providing an environment that is safe, open and inclusive." Vol. 32 No. 1 – January 2019 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2019 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 12 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer - (416) 649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com EDITORIAL Publisher/Editor in Chief: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor Marcel Vander Wier - (416) 649-7837 marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. 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Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Email: customersupport. legaltaxcanada@tr.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Todd Humber Editor's Notes Resolution: Keep the human in HR O ne of the HR profession's core mandates is recruit- ment. Finding the best tal- ent is arguably the biggest differ- ence maker for any organization. While we have seen fascinat- ing strides in technology, from cutting-edge applicant tracking systems to artificial intelligence (AI), we're still a long way from taking the human out of human resources. I'll go out on a limb and say it will never happen — and should never happen — when it comes to recruitment. You don't have to dig deep to find disgruntled chatter from job- seekers about the application pro- cess. It has become too automat- ed, too impersonal and frankly too easy to apply for many positions. And algorithms don't always do a great job of shortlisting truly top candidates. Abandon AI One of the more fascinating HR stories I read recently was written by editor/supervisor Sarah Dob- son for the December issue, and posted to hrreporter.com. Titled "Is AI biased in recruitment?" it looked into Amazon's use — and eventual abandonment — of AI in sorting through resumés. The problem? It was biased against women and screened in too many unqualified applicants. Which, really, we don't need a machine to do — we've already, unfortunately, mastered those processes. Perhaps abandoning AI is too drastic, but proceed with cau- tion and skepticism. It can be a useful tool, but everything in moderation. Ditch the one-click This won't be popular among jobseekers, but I'm not a fan of LinkedIn's one-click application process. It lets you apply simply by clicking "apply" and moving your LinkedIn profile to the hir- ing company. Does it get you a good quantity of applicants? Undoubtedly. But if I can sit at my desk and apply for 15 jobs in 15 minutes, that's not doing the employer any favours. We're talking about ca- reers, not speed dating. Bring back the cover letter I'm amazed at how many posi- tions don't require a cover letter. at's a mistake, for most posi- tions. Sure, if you're doing mass hiring to staff up a retail location for the busy holiday season, or hir- ing students at McDonald's, you can forego the need for a cover letter. But for most openings, you should want to see a cover letter that specifically addresses the job. It accomplishes so many things — first, it weeds out the casual speed-daters hoping to win the job lottery. Second, it demonstrates the candidate's understanding of the job and your organization. You want people who have a passion for their profession, and a strong desire and belief in the company's mandate. ird, it can tell you a lot about a candidate. How well can she communicate? Can she spell? Does she know the basics of gram- mar? ese are critical skills in an era where so much communica- tion takes place in written form. Stop making me create a profile e first step in many application processes is logging in to the ca- reers portal of the organization. is is a head-scratcher. For most professionals, there are essentially one or two jobs in any company they are qualified for and interest- ed in — why are you asking them to create a username and overly complicated password? It almost feels like a message from the hiring gods: "You have no shot at getting this job, but cre- ate a profile and keep coming back regularly and applying for all our jobs and maybe, just maybe, you'll eventually get lucky." It's not a great first impression. Don't rely on keywords Recruitment technology often parses resumés for certain key- words. If a candidate happens to miss one of these in his brief re- sumés, it won't land in front of a human. It's time-consuming, but every resumé should be reviewed by a recruiter. Plus, one of my favourite job- seeking stories came from a guy who gamed the system by includ- ing every keyword under the sun — hidden in four-point text, in an invisible white font, at the bottom of his CV. Don't forget to say 'anks, but no thanks' Yes, 99.99 per cent of the candi- dates who apply will not get the job. But every single one of them deserves a response. Here, we can sing the praises of automation. For jobseekers who are screened out, a form email will do just fine. For people who came in for live interviews or via video confer- encing, a more personal touch is required. Don't skip this step — it doesn't take much time and says a lot about your organization. While technology can do amaz- ing things, and make the lives of recruiters easy, it's not a panacea. We're hiring humans, after all, and nothing can replace human judgment. Instead of investing in technology and AI, keep the focus on bias-free hiring and finding the best candidates. at has always been, and will always be, the heart of great HR. Credit: VectorPot (Shutterstock) W EIRD ORKPLACE THE

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